Improvement in devices for holding swine



W. L. PITTS. Device for Holding Swine.

N0..2l5,972. Patented May 27,1879.

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UNITED TATES PATENT FFIOE.

WILLIAM L. PITTS, OF GERRO GORDO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN DEVICES FOR-HOLDING SWINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 215,972, dated May 27, 1879; application filed April 8, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. Plans, of Oerro Gordo, in the county ofPiatt and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Device for Holding Swine; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention is an improvement in tongs or clamps for holding swines snouts while inserting a ring in the nose.

The invention relates to the peculiar angular shape of the jaws of the implement, and the pro 'ision of a round-headed stud in the inner angle of one of them, whereby the implement is adapted to hold large and small swine with equal security.

In the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, I have represented a plan view of my invention.

The implement is composed of two bars or levers, A A, hinged together like the corresponding parts of blacksmiths tongs. The short arms or jaws to a of the levers are bent laterally at right angles, or nearly so, the apices of the angles being opposite, so that when the jaws are closed together they form the outline of a square or diamond-shaped figure.

The object of this form or construction of the jaws a a is to cause them to press on each side of the swines snout, or, in other words, to fit it accurately, so that the snout will be clamped and held without the animal being able to move it laterally or twist it, as in the old form of clamp having semicircular jaws.

The lower jaw, a, is provided with a roundheaded stud or spherical projection, I), which is located at the inner angle.

When the instrument is in use the ball enters the cavity between the sides of the animals lower jaw, and thus assists in preventing the instrument slipping on the snout lengthwise.

In applying the instrument the upper V- shaped jaw, a, acts as a guide to direct the ball b to its place.

The instrument may be made of malleable cast-iron, andthe stud or ball I) may be cast solid with the lower jaw, (which construction I prefer,) as it may be made separate and de tachable.

I am aware of Patent No. 145,105, which describes an implement whose upper jaw is semicircular and its lower jaw curved upward; but such construction forms no part of my invention.

What I claim is The improved implement for holding swines snouts, the same having the V-shaped jaws to a and the stud b, which is located in the inner angle of the lower jaw, as shown and described, for the purpose specified.

WILLIAM L. PITTS. \Vitnesses JOHN C. BARNIIART, O. J. HARLAN. 

